Guest Post: Outlaw Monster Hunter Survival Tips by Gail Z. Martin

Epic new fantasy from the bestselling author of The Summoner. In a city beset by monsters, three brothers must find out who is controlling the abominations.

The city-state of Ravenwood is wealthy, powerful, and corrupt. Merchant Princes and Guild Masters wager fortunes to outmaneuver League rivals for the king’s favor and advantageous trading terms. Lord Mayor Ellor Machison wields assassins, blood witches, and forbidden magic to assure that his powerful patrons get what they want, no matter the cost.

Corran, Rigan, and Kell Valmonde are Guild Undertakers, left to run their family’s business when guards murdered their father and monsters killed their mother. Their grave magic enables them to help souls pass to the After and banish vengeful spirits. Rigan’s magic is unusually strong and enables him to hear the confessions of the dead, the secrets that would otherwise be taken to the grave.

When the toll exacted by monsters and brutal guards hits close to home and ghosts expose the hidden sins of powerful men, Corran, Rigan and Kell become targets in a deadly game and face a choice: obey the Guild, or fight back and risk everything.

Brothers. Outlaws. Saviours.

Rigan and Corran Valmonde are not heroes. They are undertakers, lawbreakers, and monster hunters. Without them, the town of Ravenwood is finished.

But the more successful Rigan and Corran become at destroying the creatures, the more a greater evil is revealed – one larger and more monstrous than they ever could imagine…

We don’t do this very often, but today is a special day because we have Gail Z. Martin with us to give us some Outlaw Monster Survival Tips. Read up and enjoy!

Outlaw Monster Hunter Survival Tips

By Gail Z. Martin

In my Darkhurst series, three undertaker brothers fight the monsters that killed their family and friends, only to discover that there’s a bigger conspiracy and they are in way over their heads. It’s medieval monster hunters, or as I’ve told many readers, think ‘Supernatural meets Game of Thrones.’

The Valmonde brothers and their friends end up as outlaws, because powerful men have a vested interest in the deaths and mayhem caused by the monsters. That puts them in good company, because most monster hunters end up on the wrong side of the law: Van Helsing, the Winchester brothers, Kolchak, Wynona Earp, Harry Dresden, Bubba the Monster Hunter, and many others.

So here are my Top 10 Tips for Outlaw Monster Hunters

Avoid the police. Cops generally don’t believe in the paranormal, so getting caught digging up a grave to stop a vengeful ghost, no matter how good your intentions, is going to land you in jail.

Monster hunting doesn’t pay well, so there’s either got to be a side gig to earn money legally, or you end up getting by on credit card fraud and hustling pool (Sam and Dean, we’re looking at you). In my Deadly Curiosities series, Cassidy Kincaide runs an antique and curio store that gets haunted and cursed objects out of the wrong hands, and fights supernatural threats on the side. Our Spells, Salt and Steel series features monster hunter Mark Wojcik, who’s ‘real’ job is being a mechanic. And our new Night Vigil series has ex-priest Travis Dominick who runs a halfway house and former FBI agent Brent Lawson who is now a private investigator. In the Darkhurst series, the Valmondes and their friends get by on foraging, trapping small game, and the gratitude of villagers for whom they solve monster problems.

Get used to it being a thankless job. You don’t want your name and photo in the news, because either the monsters will see, or the cops will start piecing together incidents you were probably responsible for.

Buy a fast car with a trunk big enough to hold bodies, and have a few extra license plates on hand. Stunt driving classes wouldn’t hurt. Consider using a car built before onboard computers, which can be hacked and tracked. Or maybe a horse.

Disable your phone GPS. While you’re at it, you might as well learn to love the Dark Web, incognito-mode browsers and anonymous routers, because you really don’t want to be tracked.

Pay cash. Everything else is easy to trace.

Wear a lot of hats and sunglasses. Stay updated on how to beat facial recognition software.

Move around. Staying in one place will get you caught.

Learn to be a hacker. Most of what you need to know isn’t publicly available—legally.

Make powerful friends. Having a few vampires, werewolves and witches on your side, or maybe a fallen angel or two, can’t hurt!